driftfleet | 003 winter wonderland

Entry tags:

003 winter wonderland

Who: Sansa Stark
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: down on the planet
When: 20 December - end of the month

> > > carol singing

( Sansa enjoys the systems that are cold and this one is no exception. This planet is full of ice and snow and the people are warm and kind the way she remembers the North being when she was a child. They do love music, impossibly so, and so she decides to sing a few of the songs she knows down in a cafe when some others are singing their own. It's nice to learn new things to sing and she has one of the new songs on the tip of her tongue as she goes to get a cup of warm tea, needing to stave off the chill. When she sees someone she recognizes from the Fleet, she steps back a bit and allows them to step to the counter first. )

Oh, did you want anything? Far be it from me to be in your way - how rude of me.

> > > stitching time

( Lord Akeldama's waistcoat was coming along nicely and rather than sew up in the Fleet, Sansa has chosen to do it down in a cozy corner near a fire in a bookstore down on the planet. She has a little basket of sewing things she's bought from her small supply of credits and she's hoping a few others will take her up on the offer to make things for them. She sends a message out to the Fleet indicating the same, that anyone can come and put in a commission. She sews fast and accurate; Sansa doesn't think it will take her long to turn out a few pieces and earn a bit of money. For now, though, it's Lord Akeldama's waistcoat and she's just pricked her finger. She makes a soft sound and brings the wounded finger to her lips to suck it. )

Ouch! You'd think I would be better at this.

> > > wildcard

( Have another idea? Leave me a start below! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One, yes.

[One that she knows of, anyway, and everything surrounding who they are and what time they're both from makes it all that much more complicated. Not that anything was ever really easy for the both of them.]

Have you met Han Solo? He's a... friend of mine, from back home.

No, I haven't had the pleasure. Is he from Alderaan, then? Just as you are? Or somewhere further away?

( Since they can travel so easily in her world, he could be from as far away as King's Landing from Winterfell. )

[She shakes her head. She doesn't even know if Han had ever been to Alderaan before the disaster, this reminds her, but part of her hopes he had.]

No, he's from another planet called Corellia. It's very different from Alderaan.

Oh, I see. Is it far from Alderaan, then, or did you meet somewhere else entirely? I'm sorry if it's too many questions; your world seems so different from mine.

( Sansa likes learning about new places as much as she can, which is why she likes when the Fleet is in a system and not drifting. )

No, you're fine, don't worry.

[She shakes her head, before continuing.]

Corellia isn't far from Alderaan; they're both core planets, so it's only several hours at lightspeed between them. We met elsewhere, however.

[She pauses for a second, weighing her options before continuing--]

He tried to lead a rescue mission to help me, but his plan wasn't the greatest. So I took charge instead.

Sometimes men don't have the best sense of how things will work out in the long term. They like to just...smash at things and hope for the best.

( Sansa has more than a little experience with the men of her family being stubborn and hard-headed with honor. She wonders what this Han Solo did that made his plan go awry. )

In his case, he doesn't seem to have problems planning how to break in somewhere, it's breaking out he forgets about.

[At least that time, anyway. Since then, they seem to have found a way to work well together to overcome both of their planning shortcomings.]

Well, I suppose one does have to have both to effect a proper rescue. I see why you took matters into your own hands, then. Has he any ideas about how to spring us from the Fleet? Or has that alluded him?

( Sansa isn't particularly bothered by being in the Fleet, knowing that stress and war await her at home, but part of the reason she doesn't feel guilty about it is because she can't leave. )

[A small wry smile makes its way onto Leia's face at that.]

Not for lack of trying, I'm sure. He's not particularly happy about being here either. Or at least, not without his own ship.

I can imagine if you're used to a certain amount of agency, losing it so suddenly can be bewildering. I've never owned my own ship and certainly not one like this - but if I did, I wouldn't want to lose it.

( Sansa thinks this world is as troubling as her own, in some ways. There are advantages to it, yes, but clear disadvantages as well. )

Is he able to pilot a ship here in the Fleet, at least?

I believe he is considered a pilot here.

[She's not sure what good the classifications here do, as far as her own communications role or his pilot role or any of that. As far as she sees it, they're still stuck with the fleet no matter what.]

I don't know that it has any bearing on the ship he's part of, though.

No, I don't know if I offer anything to my ship as a communications officer. Before, I didn't have an augment at all and now I have this one. It's strange but I suppose they thought since I had some experience, I could do something else.

( Sansa shrugs a bit, amused by it all. )

I come from a world where we cannot fly and they see fit to give me a role as a communications liaison. I will never understand the Atroma.

Would you have preferred pilot?

[Sansa's full background, she naturally doesn't know, but with how similar things seem to what Leia knew growing up, she's sure communications fits. But she can understand wanting something else, something more exciting, too.]

Oh no, I don’t think I would be any good at piloting. I settled disputes and negotiated as Lady of Winterfell, so I think that communications is a better fit for me.

( Sansa looks at Leia, curious. )

And what of you? Is communications a strength of yours?

It is, by requirement rather than choice.

[Whether it would've been something she ended up being good at had her life been different, Leia doesn't know. But it's something she has to do as a rebel leader, as a senator, and as a princess.]

I represented my planet in the galactic senate for a time. Communication skills were necessary for that.

A senate? How does that work, then? Each planet has their own person to speak for them? You don’t have a king or queen?

( A world without a king or queen seems a strange one to Sansa; it’s all she knows of ruling. )

Most planets still have their own king or queen, or some form of governance. A planet's local government concerns itself with matters that affect life on the planet directly, or negotiations with other systems on a more personal level. For my mother, the well-being of our citizens while on planet was the priority.

[Something that would've been her priority more than it was before had things been different. Something that's her responsibility now in an entirely different way, because she owes it to anyone left. But that's not where she wants her thoughts to head at the moment, so she shakes her head before continuing.]

The Senate is affecting multiple planets on a wider level. Trade regulations, intervening in humanitarian crises, or reprimanding acts of aggression are the sort of things it was intended for.

I see. We have no such thing in Westeros. Sometimes a king or queen might ask their vassals to come pay fealty to the Iron Throne but each great house rules their lands.

( Sansa remembers when her lord father was the dispenser of justice in the North. She wants that again. )

After the war, the North declared independence. My brother is King in the North and I’m his heir. I rule in his stead while he’s in the South negotiating a treaty.

I don't envy his job. Negotiations can be frustrating even in the best of situations.

[Being as hot-headed as she is, dealing with people whose views she sees as actively wrong and offensive (or, anything that supported the Empire and its oppression) back when she was in the Senate was always an extreme test of patience.]

Do you like governing?

I hate it, truth be told, but duty dictates I must do it. It's not in me to shirk my responsibilities and I owe it to my people to guide them and govern them to the best of my ability. Do you like it?

( Sansa has found that those who love being king are the worst kings but Leia doesn't seem the sort to be a bad queen. She seems rational and level-headed and, above all, kind. )

Not governing, exactly.

[The prospect of sitting in the sort of meetings her mother sat through, of the required manners and protocol for dealing with others, that's never appealed to Leia, even though she understands the necessity of it.]

What I enjoy is making a difference, for both my own people and for the others throughout the galaxy. It would be wasting the resources I've been given if I didn't use them to help those who can't, for whatever reason, stand up on their own.

( Sansa smiles a bit; Leia is a kindred spirit, as she hoped, and not someone ambitious or hungry for power solely for power's sake. It comforts her. )

Then you and I are of similar mind and one accord. I do it because it needs to be done, not out of ambition. I have a duty to my people to represent their interests as best I can and make decisions to benefit them.

[An answer Leia is similarly glad to hear. She knows others can see her as idealistic or anything along those lines back home--not on Alderaan, but elsewhere in the galaxy--she's heard it before. But, meeting someone with a similar mindset is refreshing.]

I've known far too many royals or senators who care far more about their own self interests or preserving the status quo. I can't understand that sort of thinking at all.

Neither can I. Those who are born with a crown on their head tend to be the ones least suited to wear it. Some of the most awful kings and queens I've known were those born into royalty. Those who fight for their people are better, I think.

( Perhaps there should be a representative government in Westeros but Sansa doesn't know if that's her decision to make. )

They lack perspective or empathy, in my experience. It makes me wonder exactly what sort of upbringing they had to warp their mindset in such a way.

[She knows how she was raised, with the mindset that she must think of others always, even when she'd rather do something else. But she knows that's not the most common way to rule.]

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